Looking after Australia’s working bodies

www.corporatebodies.com.au 1300 21 31 41

nick@corporatebodies.com.au

Workplace health & wellbeing and its role in Australia’s ageing populationNick Ielasi

Exercise Physiologist

Australia’s population is ageing

> Caused by a combination of lower fertility rates and increased life expectancy

> Life expectancy expected to increase from 91.5 to 95.1 years for males and 93.6 to 96.0 for females over the next 40 years

> Those aged between 65 and 84 years is expected to increase from 13% to 18% of the population by 2055

> Those aged over 85 years projected to increase from 2% of the population to 5% by 2055

2

Source: Treasury of Australia. (2015). 2015 Intergenerational Report: Australia in 2055

Projected dependency ratio

3

1974-75

1989-90

2014-15

2024-25

2034-35

2033-45

2054-55

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

7.3

6.1

4.5

3.7

3.2

3

2.7

Dependency ratio

Ye

ar

Source: Treasury of Australia. (2015). 2015 Intergenerational Report: Australia in 2055

Consequences of an ageing population

> Expected increase from 12.9% to 17.3% of those aged over 65 years participating in the work force by 2055

> Overall, a decline in workforce participation rates for those over 15 years of age will decrease from 64.6% to 62.4% by 2055.

> Commonwealth health expenditure is expected to increase from $2,800 to $6,500 per person by 2055

> Chronic disease is largely implicated in the increased health system costs

4Source: Treasury of Australia. (2015). 2015 Intergenerational Report: Australia in 2055

Chronic disease in Australia

> Chronic disease can be described as diseases that are long lasting and have persistent effects

> Make up 90% of all deaths in Australia

> Five major groups:> Cardiovascular diseases> Respiratory diseases> Cancers> Diabetes> Mental illness

> Non-communicable diseases (largely chronic disease) make up 85% of Australia’s total burden of disease

> In 2005, it was estimated that over a third of the population had at least one chronic disease

5Source:Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2014). Australia’s health 2014.

Number of chronic diseases by age

6Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2006). Chronic disease and associated risk factors in Australia.

Projected costs of chronic disease management

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2002-03 2012-13 2022-23 2032-330

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Health and aged are expenditure projections by disease between 2003 and 2033

CardiovascularRespiratoryMentalCancerType 2 DibetesOther Diabetes

Year

Mill

ions

of

200

6/07

dol

lars

Source: : Goss, J.(2008). Projection of Australian healthcare expenditure by diseases, 2003 to 2033

Risk factors

> Smoking, high alcohol intake, physical inactivity and poor diet – Lifestyle risk factors that increase chronic disease risk.

> Biomedical markers including obesity, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and high blood glucose also affected by lifestyle risk factors.

> Risks are compounding, so as the number of risk factors increases so does the risk of chronic disease – early detection is vital

> Nearly all (96%) working-age people reported one or more risk factors

> 75% reported multiple risk factors

8Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,. (2010). Risk factors and participation in work

Risk factor percentages in working-age Australians

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Risk Factor Area % Adult Population

Smoking 16%

Risky alcohol consumption (long term health) 20%

Risky alcohol consumption (short term) 45%

Physical inactivity 57%

Low vegetable consumption 92%

Low fruit consumption 52%

Overweight/Obese 63%

High blood pressure 32%

High cholesterol 36%

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2014). Australia’s health 2014.

Risk factor and chronic disease associations

Lifestyle Risk Factors Intermediate Risk Factors

Chronic Disease

Physical Inactivity

Poor Diet Smoking Alcohol Obesity High BP High BGLs High TC

Cardiovascular disease • • • • • • • •

Respiratory     •     •

Cancer • • • • •    

Diabetes • •     • • • •

Mental health •              

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Risk factors vs health insurance claims by age (2006)

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<35 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

642 498 519 8261398

2149459 459 566

9661790

2969

857 933 8601595

29503643

1136 10301706

2670

4905 5067

Low Risk(0-2 risks) Non-ParticipantMedium Risk (3-4 Risks) High Risk (5+ risks)

Age Groups

Ben

efits

per

yea

r (A

UD

)

Source: Australian Health Management. (2006). Hearing into the Private Health Insurance Bill 2006.

Cost of risk factors

> Graph on previous page highlights that risk factors might be more important than age when considering health care costs (at least for health insurers)

> Recent American study investigated whether changes in risk factors over a year-long period changed company healthcare costs and found:

> For individuals with a chronic disease, a $129 (USD) health saving was achieved for the removal of each risk factor

> For each addition of a risk factor a $210 (USD) cost was seen

> Risk factors are independently related to health care costs for those with and without chronic disease, whilst also reducing the likely hood of chronic disease development

12Source: Nyce, S., Grossmeier, J., Anderson, D., Terry, P., & Kelley, B. (2012). Association Between Changes in Health Risk Status and Changes in Future Health Care Costs.

Poor health is poor business

> Companies bear both direct and indirect cost of poor health> Direct costs associated with workers compensation> Indirect costs associated with absenteeism and presenteeism

> Absenteeism $7 billion per year> Those with one chronic disease and one risk factor display 2.5 to 4.0 the

absentees as those with no chronic diseases or risk factors> Cost of chronic disease attributed to absenteeism 57,000 full time years per

annum> Cost of risk factor attributed absenteeism 112,000 full time years per annum

> Presenteeism $26 billion per year> Sickness related loss in productivity> Current presenteeism a predictor of future absenteeism

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1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2010). Risk factors and participation in work.2. Econtech. (2007). Economic Modelling of the cost of presenteeism in Australia.3. Bergström, G., Bodin, L., Hagberg, J., Aronnson, G., & Josephson, M. (2009). Sickness

presenteeism today, sickness absenteeism tomorrow? A prospective study on sickness presenteeism and future sickness absenteeism.

Workers compensation

> Risk factors such as physical inactivity, obesity and risky alcohol consumption associated with increases in workplace injuries

> Individuals with a chronic disease take longer to recover and experience a reduced likelihood of fully returning to work

> Age has been linked with an increased incidence and recovery time from injury

> Managing the health of workforce as it ages is crucial to:> Injury rate> Cost per injury

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1. Norton L, Harrison JE, Pointer S & Lathlean T (2011). Obesity and injury: a review of the literature. Injury research and statistics.

2. Wesley Corporate Health. Addressing the Health of an Ageing Workforce.

Benefits of an ageing workforce

> Knowledge and skills

> Industry-specific experience

> Greater company loyalty• Over 45s stay with the same employer 2.4 times longer than their younger

counterparts

15Source: Queensland Government – Department of Employment and Industrial relations. (2007). Experience pays.

Aligning goals

16Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2010). Workplace Wellness in Australia.

Why workplace health?

> How can we target a significant portion of the Australian population?

> Access to an interactive audience of 10 million Australians

> Access to individuals who wouldn’t otherwise seek this information

> Infrastructure already available

> Ability to be rolled out quickly

> Targets key risk factors within different worker demographics

> Use of significantly cheaper allied health professionals (when compared to GP’s)

> Why not? Can you afford not to invest?

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Corporate health and wellbeing - everyone benefits!

> Large bodies of evidence have demonstrated the ability for work place health and wellbeing to address:

> Overall returns on investment ranging between $3 and $6 in Australia

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1. Aegis Consulting on behalf of HAPIA,. (2008). Using the workplace to prevent chronic disease.2. Sax institute. (2008). Primary prevention in Australia through interventions in the workplace

setting- a rapid report.

Productivity – 58 studies 53 show significant increases 3 show no change

Absenteeism – 88 Studies 84 show significant decreases 4 show no change

Medical costs – 51 studies 47 show decreases by an average of $392 4 show no change

Lifestyle change – 68 studies 66 show positive changes 2 show no change

Industrial injuries – 34 studies 31 show lower number/cost of injuries 3 show no change

Cost/benefit – 29 studies 27 show net benefit 2 show no change

Summary

> Ageing nature of the Australian population, combined with high incidence of lifestyle related risk factors will see healthcare costs soar over the next 40 years

> To mitigate these costs a prevention based model is required to limit the development of chronic diseases and the ongoing costs associated with them.

> The same risk factors that effects chronic disease development show return on investment through:

> Decreased absenteeism> Increased productivity> Decreased injury risks

> Workplace health and wellbeing has demonstrated an its ability to correctly identify and intervene with these risk factors for a cost benefit

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Want more information?

> Download a copy of our latest industry report; “Employee Health – A snapshot of Australia’s working bodies”

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> Visit our website for more information and to see further case studies of the programs we run www.corporatebodies.com.au

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www.corporatebodies.com.au 1300 21 31 41 nick@corporatebodies.com.au